ABSTRACT
Central issues for analysis in this chapter are trends in sectoral labour productivities in the past decades. By comparing trends some differences can be found in patterns of agricultural development in major regions of the world: Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, Africa south of the Sahara, the Middle East-Mediterranean, and the industrial economies (see Appendix Table A.1 p. 169 for definition of the regions). Main points of attention are differences in productivity growth in the major sectors of the economy (A, I and S sectors)1, related changes in comparative advantage for agriculture and industry, changes in the factoral terms of trade between agriculture and other sectors2, and resulting challenges for government policies. This comparison is put in the perspective of development experiences of the previous one hundred years. Therefore this chapter starts with a short review of these experiences, and related theoretical issues in literature which deserve further attention for the comparative analysis of Japan’s case.
